The company has organised for the women to take a training programme, BizAIDS, to help them acquire basic business and management skills.

Director Zoe Dean-Smith said the intention was to offer the women a training programme that would help them in their handicraft business and it would be offered to all the 650 women Gone Rural works with.

"The women have been divided into 13 groups as others are as far as Lavumisa, Sandlane border, Edlangeni and other areas," she said. "We will also be taking the programme out to them, as the first group comprised of the women who live around Malkerns, Mahlanya and surrounding areas."

During the graduation ceremony of the first group of 33 women, BizAIDS National Coordinator Phindile Weatherson explained that the goal of the programme was to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on informal, micro and small enterprises, their owners, employees and families, as well as the greater community in Swaziland. "BizAIDS training was implemented in January
this year when 35 trainers were trained to roll out the programme throughout the country," she said.

Weatherson said the programme was funded through a grant received from the President's Emergency Plan for HIV and AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

"BizAIDS offers a wholesome approach where we talk about three pillars which are the backbone of every successful business - health, business and legal issues," she explained.

Click here to read the full article on the Observer's website: